Nicolai Haugsted
The American character actor passed away peacefully in his Seattle home on Wednesday.
American actor Tom Skerritt has passed away at the age of 93. He died peacefully on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at his home in Seattle from natural causes, his publicist confirmed to CBS News, with his family announcing his death the following day.
Few actors have enjoyed such a long career in Hollywood’s A-list without ever becoming a star in their own right. Skerritt himself once described it as being “a character actor trapped in a leading man’s body.”
Over more than 60 years in front of the camera, he lent his face to some of the cinematic experiences that multiple generations of film fans grew up with.
Two of these remain iconic. In Ridley Scott’s 1979 space horror film Alien, he played Captain Dallas, the commander aboard the space freighter Nostromo, who becomes the first to cross paths with the titular monster. Seven years later, an entire generation never forgot his Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf, the flight instructor who took Tom Cruise’s Maverick under his wing in Tony Scott’s Top Gun.
An Emmy for Picket Fences
Skerritt’s greatest triumph, however, came on the small screen. As Sheriff Jimmy Brock in David E. Kelley’s CBS drama Picket Fences, he won a Primetime Emmy in 1993 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He held the role for four seasons until 1996.
His resume ranged from Robert Altman’s breakthrough satire M*A*S*H (1970), where he played Duke Forrest alongside Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould, to contributions in films such as Steel Magnolias, Robert Redford’s A River Runs Through It, and Robert Zemeckis’ Contact. NBC News counts more than 100 film and television roles in his career, and in 2013, he made his Broadway debut in a stage adaptation of John Grisham’s A Time to Kill.
Mentor for a New Generation
Outside the limelight, Skerritt spent many years fostering the next generation. In Seattle, he co-founded TheFilmSchool, which teaches screenwriting and acting, and the Red Badge Project, an initiative that uses storytelling as therapy for wounded war veterans.
His family honored him in a written statement.
“The world knew Tom through his remarkable acting career, but we knew him for his humor, curiosity, wisdom, generosity, and the love he brought into our lives,” his relatives wrote.
Skerritt is survived by his wife Julie Tokashiki, five children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Both franchises that Skerritt helped establish are still active in Hollywood. The Alien universe most recently saw the series Alien: Earth in 2025, and Top Gun: Maverick from 2022 became one of the 21st century’s biggest box office hits. Skerritt himself did not return as Viper in the sequel, but the character remains integral to the film’s plot as the mentor who guided Maverick forward.
